October 16, 2019

A group of Japanese Communist Party members of the Taito Ward Assembly on October 15 filed a complaint against Mayor Hattori Yukuo in regard to a case in which homeless people seeking shelter from powerful-typhoon Hagibis were refused entrance to shelters in the middle of the storm.

The JCP assemblypersons’ group criticized this act as a gross human rights violation and urged Hattori to prevent a recurrence. They also demanded the ward mayor’s apology to the persons affected.

On the same day, representatives of local organizations of the All Japan Federation of Organizations for the Protection of Life and Health (Zenseiren) in Taito and its neighboring ward of Arakawa submitted an open letter of protest to Mayor Hattori.

Zenseiren locals in their open letter asked the mayor to answer the following questions:

- Does the mayor reckon the act of barring people with no fixed abode from evacuation facilities to be appropriate?

- Does the Taito government have a policy of making the decision to triage those who seek refuge at temporary shelters in time of emergency?

- What options do persons have after being denied access to an evacuation center during a natural disaster?

A ward government official who received the open letter offered an apology for his lack of awareness of providing support for street people as part of the local government’s responsibility. However, the official said that ward residents should have first priority to utilize temporary shelters.